Heritage Day

First of all, in my last post about the dolphins, I neglected to tell you that we are now back on a mooring in Hope Town. Instead of being smack dab in the middle of the harbor this time, we are at the beginning of Back Creek.
The two dolphins were up and down the protected creek almost all day yesterday and even came back for awhile today.
Enough said about the dolphins though...

March is a busy month for us with lots of meetings, sailing races, plus other club and community events. Today was Hope Town Heritage Day which was a fundraiser for the local Wyannie Malone Historical Museum. Besides the usual food, shirt, and art vendors, silent auctions, and some historical displays, they had a couple of novel ways to raise money. This included tours of the local homes, and the always popular prettiest knees contest.


One of the interactive displays really drew our attention, when several of the local residents went out in wood Abaco Dinghies to have a sculling race.
Sculling, with this long single oar off the stern, is a fine art that takes time and patience to learn. Of course the people who grew up here have been using this form of rowing since they were children.
It was fun to see how fast they could go to the finish line.
THEN, it was the Americans' turn to try their hand at it (literally!), and Dave was one of the volunteers to go out and scull around the course.
It took much concentration, but he finally got the knack of it.
Afterwards, the guys all received sculling shirts for their efforts and entertaining the onlookers.
Learning this almost lost art form, in these beautiful Hope Town hand-made boats, was an excellent way to experience some of the nautical history of the Abacos.